The recent introduction of the Modern Slavery Act in the UK has generated a significant amount of interest and concern alike. Organisations appear to be aware of the Act, and are not only keen to understand what they need to do to in order to comply, but also how and what they should report year on year.

There has been plenty of clarification on the aims of the Act itself, its coverage and its requirements. However, what has not been so clear is what organisations actually need to include in their reports, what policies and practices need to be introduced and how to train their workforce.

Towards the end of 2015, Greenstone ran a series of webinars focussed on providing a practical insight into addressing the UK Modern Slavery Act. These webinars were extremely popular and generated a number of questions and discussion points around the Act.

We have turned these questions into a set of FAQs for reference. Hopefully, the questions raised will reflect the issues and concerns of others and therefore provide some wider benefit. However, if you do wish to speak to us about the Modern Slavery Act or indeed how we can facilitate the data gathering process through our SupplierPortal solution, then please do not hesitate to get in touch.

In the autumn of 2015, the UK government introduced the Modern Slavery Act which seeks to address the role of businesses in preventing modern slavery from occurring in their supply chains and organisations.

The Act defines modern slavery as covering slavery, servitude, forced and compulsory labour and human trafficking. Organisations captured by the Act not only need to ensure that modern slavery is not an issue in-house, they also need to take, and report on, actions to prevent the issue from occurring within their supply chains. The actions, targets and progress on these issues should be reported annually by organisations through their Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement.

The UK government has recently issued statutory guidance relating to the supply chain transparency and reporting obligations of the Modern Slavery Act 2015. With confirmation on who is required to comply and when they need to comply by, as well as including essential details on the all-important annual statement, Transparency in Supply Chains: A Practical guide is a welcome document for all. Here is everything you need to know and what you need to do.

An estimate from the Global Slavery Index indicates that there are approximately 35.8 million people being subjected to modern slavery today [1]. Recently receiving Royal Assent in parliament, the Modern Slavery Act 2015 aims to cut this number by requiring businesses to take action and report on modern slavery standards in their supply chain.

The Modern Slavery Bill is expected to be debated in Parliament before the end of 2014 and is expected to become law before the 2015 General Election. If passed, it is expected to grant courts in England and Wales new powers to protect individuals who are trafficked into and within the UK, held against their will and forced to work.

For companies, the Modern Slavery Bill could result in a real change to the way they are expected to report on modern slavery in their supply chain.